Thursday, June 25

How far have we fallen from a nation of laws? Here's example 456,745: When a congressional committee began closing in on the brazen harassment of conservative politica groups by the lying IRS division chief Lois Lerner, congress subpoenaed her emails to see if someone higher up in the emperor's administration had told her to do this.

Lerner then told congress that a hard drive crash had wiped out two years of her emails. Oh, and bad luck, congressman: The two years that were destroyed were exactly the period you were looking for, too. Gosh, so sorry!

Then some congressional staffer noted that federal law required all agencies to preserve backups of emails, exactly to prevent crooked, lying bitch scum like Lerner from claiming what she claimed and getting away with it. So where were the backups?

The head of the IRS himself appeared before congress and testified that provisions of law be damned, no backups existed. And no, it wasn't his fault. Because, "Oh, it's way too complicated for you morons to understand."

The bastard actually smirked as he said the equivalent of this.

Oh, and we looked all over the place for the tapes but couldn't find 'em.

Of course, they may have existed at one time, but have been overwritten by new data--because, you know, those big reels of tape are expensive, and when the Rethuglicans did that thing with the budget a couple of years ago, well, we just couldn't afford new backup tapes so we had to write over the older ones. So you know, it's your fault.

Then some investigator had the stunning idea to actually go down to the office that stores backup tapes for federal agencies and ask "Did the lying sack of shit who cashes a paycheck for nominally "running" the IRS ask you to look for these tapes?"

Answer: "No one has ever asked us to look for anything." And they proceeded to produce tapes containing, oh, 30,000 pages of emails.

"Ooh, was there some sort of search for these? Oooh, a subpoena, you say? Well, we had no idea.

In fact the destruction of the subpoenaed evidence occurred about three weeks before IRS
Commissioner John Koskinen testified to Congress that they would provide copies of the missing emails to Congress.

Hey, we're just Soooo f'n sorry about that, congressdudes. Gosh, if only we'd somehow known not to erase all those tapes, we could have been more helpful. But no one up the chain ever told us y'all were looking for these things. Wow, bad luck, huh? Well, is there anything else we can do for ya?

Firing squads. Everyone from GS4 all the way to the top. These lying bastards will keep doing it until the first thousand are executed. Then and only then will the brazen lying and lawbreaking stop.

Court rules the clear language of the ACA on subsidies does NOT mean what it says

Well the long-awaited ruling from the Supreme Court on whether the clear language of the actual Obamacare *law* regarding who can get taxpayer-funded subsidies means what it says was issued a couple of hours ago.

If you haven't followed the controversy, it's that the part dealing with subsidies says that people are only eligible for a subsidy (a check from taxpayers) if they bought their insurance through an "exchange established by a State."

Does that seem confusing? What do you think the law's drafters meant by that phrase?

The intent of this provision was to dangle a carrot in front of the states, to encourage all the states to set up their own exchanges. This incentive didn't work: Only a handful of states set up their own exchanges, and at least two that states spent over a billion dollars building have now been terminated as being too costly.

But back to the language: If you don't believe that the restrictive language (only to "an exchange established by a State") was inserted to entice the states into setting up their own exchanges, the main architect of Obamacare has been captured on video--on two separate occasions--saying exactly that. So if you're looking at the intent of the law's language, there it is.

But let's suppose he hadn't made those two statements (again, caught on video). In that case courts try to use logic to divine the intent of congress. So consider this: If the lying asshole socialist bastards who wrote the actual language in the bill had intended that everyone who bought health insurance would qualify to receive a subsidy, why would the drafters bother inserting any qualifying language in the bill at all?

If they intended that everyone would qualify for a subsidy, any "limiting" language would not only be unnecessary but inaccurate. So the mere existence of any language that would restrict the subsidy in any way speaks to their true intent.

The only possible conclusion is that the bill's authors meant what they wrote in the bill--NOT what they now claim.

But the court ignored this bit of very obvious logic in favor of re-writing the bill to do what the drafters NOW claim they wanted to do. Which was give subsidies to everyone.

If you're a Democrat, liberal, "progressive" or communist, this is just faabulous. Those folks all love for the courts to rewrite laws to accomplish things the Left wants done. Unfortunately the court has historically declined to do that, reasoning that if the language clearly says "X," but congress wails that they *really* meant "Y," congress is free to repeal or amend the defective law at any time.

This principle has been upheld so many times as to be considered a fundamental judicial mandate.

By contrast, this court ruled that doing what the actual, you know, language says could possibly make Obamacare unworkable. Since the court considers it unthinkable that Obamacare NOT work, it will simply re-interpret the clear language to be...inoperative.

Folks, I can't adequately describe what a ghastly, horrible, dangerous, deadly threshold this court has just crossed. Because I'll bet you the drink of your choice that the justices won't actually re-write the troublesome language, nor rule that "Section xxx, line y is hereby deleted." They won't do that because doing so will make it too obvious that they've crossed the line into legislating.

So the inconsistent language will remain. But now what does the law actually *say*? The Left knows what effect they (now) want, and the justices agree, but how are the rest of us to know what the unwritten language of the law now says?

Admittedly this example isn't dire, but the precedent is. For if the court can rule that a law that clearly says X "really means" Y--but without setting that out in the statute itself--then no one can know what the law is.

1. “Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is [deemed to be] ‘established by the State.’”

2. “Under all the usual rules of interpretation...the
Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation
seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court:
The Affordable Care Act must be saved.”

3. “Today’s interpretation is not merely unnatural; it is unheard of.”

4. "[T]he discouraging truth [is] that
the Supreme Court of the United States favors some laws over others, and
is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold and assist its
favorites.”

Eh, no matter, citizen. As I've written many times, the U.S. stopped being a nation of laws about seven years ago. When it comes to the law we're now no better than Kenya or communist-ruled South Africa or North Korea: the people who run the government will decide what a given law means, and which should be enforced, and against whom. And it's just bad luck that you're always on the wrong end of those decisions, while elites like Hillary are always on the right end.

Damn shame about that, citizen. Oh, just leave your keys on the front table when you leave. Your former house will make a dozen new U.S. citizens very comfortable. Oh, and don't bother telling anyone about this--no one will believe you.

Wednesday, June 24

EU still negotiating to bail out Greece. Greek pols laughing all the way to the bar.

Big meeting taking place in Greece between European Central Bank reps, members of the European parliament and Greek politicians to see how much taxpayer money the pols can give Greece to keep the latter from leaving the common Euro currency.

Summary: For several years now the Greek govt has been living off cash borrowed from the EU. They've missed several repayment "deadlines." Two or three years ago European politicians pressured Greece's lenders to write off a huge chunk of that debt in exchange for solemn promises from Greek pols to repay the rest.

How'd that work out for 'em? Do you need to ask?

Basically the deal from a few years ago was "We'll loan you even more billions if you'll solemnly promise to tighten your policies and repay the old loans."

Of course the Greeks ended up using the new loans to make partial payments on the old loans and string the lenders out longer, and now they're even farther in debt. But the stupid members of the European parliament--a bunch even less useful than our congress--are just so *traumatized* by the plight of the Greek people that they're determined to squeeze their members to bail Greece out yet again.

Politicians are absolutely determined to feel good about themselves, no matter how much of other peoples' money they have to spend to do so.

Democrats: They're always "for the little people," right?

Democrats claim to be "for the common man." Their constant refrain is "I'm just like you. I care about you." And sure enough, that shows in the way they live. For example, below are two homes belonging to presidential candidates.

One's a Republican, the other's a Democrat.

See if you can guess which home goes with which candidate. Should be easy, right?
Home #1:

And here's #2:

Well OBVIOUSLY the first one belongs to the Democrat! Because it's small, unpretentious, on a tiny suburban lot. The second one--far larger, on acreage--clearly belongs to the Republican. Cuz, you know, they're all rich and elitist and would never be caught dead living on the end of suburban cul-de-sac. So there's the proof that...

What? You say the first one belongs to...Marco Rubio? Wait, isn't he a Republican? Clearly someone has made a mistake. This can't be right.

But then that must mean the far larger home on the huge lot must belong to...a...a...a...Democrat? But I thought there were only two Dem candidates. Is that Bernie Sanders' home? Say, socialism must pay pretty well! But then Bernie never did claim to be "just like us," eh? He's always struck me as sort of elitist, and...

Tuesday, June 23

Hillary on live TV in New Hampshire, fumbles question about Bill taking half a mil from Russian bank for one speech

Two days ago Hillary Clinton gave an interview on local television in New Hampshire. It appears to have been live.

Astonishingly, the host asked Clinton why "her" State Department--which she ostensibly ran during her term as Secretary of State--approved the sale of U.S. uranium mining claims to Russia, totalling 20 percent of total U.S. reserves.

Clinton responded, “I was not personally involved because that wasn’t something the secretary of state did.”

Wait...this is a group seeking government permission to sell a huge quantity of uranium reserves to Russia, and she's claiming she wasn't involved in the approval? Hey, good thing we aren't talking about something of, you know, huge strategic importance here, eh?

If the Secretary doesn't get involved in something that crucial, why do we have one? Who the hell made the decision--the janitor? Marie Harf? Jen Psaki?

But it gets a lot more interesting: Writing in the NY Post, Peter Schweizer--author of Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich--notes that nine of the would-be sellers of these uranium-mining assets contributed a staggering $145 million to the Clinton Foundation in the months leading up to the approval they had to have to make the sale.

And she claims she wasn't involved in the decision?

Read Schweizer's article. It's pretty damning. It's pretty clear Hillary took a $145 million bribe to approve the sale of U.S. uranium mining claims to Russia. She's a crook and a traitor. And apparently a few media people are starting to question her constant lies.

Of course as soon as the questioners are fired I expect any such distressing behavior will stop immediately.

Raisin-growing couple objects to government demanding they give it 47% of their crop

Back in the 1930s, with the Great Depression and the Dustbowl, the federal government was desperate to find a way to fix things. In doing so they passed some laws that were just as goofy as Obamacare or Cash for Clunkers. Some of those laws and the programs they created are still operating today, with some...interesting...results.

For example, raisins. If you grow raisins a federal program demands that you turn over a percentage of your crop--recently as high as 47 percent--to the government. The government doesn't pay you for it.

How in the world could such a program pass congress? As you might have guessed, it purported to solve a crisis--the oversupply of food during the Depression. The "oversupply" existed because people without jobs couldn't afford to buy a lot of things they formerly did.

One family--one--who grew raisins objected, and refused to comply. The government fined them $695,000.

One "justice" dissented: Sotomayor, the self-proclaimed "wise latina." In her written dissent she reportedly wrote that the raisin-forfeiture program did not deprive the plaintiffs of all property rights, but
just limited the amount of potential income they could earn from growing their raisins.

Read that last statement again and marvel at how violently the Democrats have strayed from the principles of the Constitution: Sotomayor is arguing, in essence, that the government can seize your property, as long as it leaves you *some* property rights.

Wow, what a fucking relief, eh?

If this is what passes for wisdom in the U.S. it's easy to see why things are rapidly going to hell.

Now I'll cheerfully admit that congress started this particular program 70-odd years before the emperor ascended. It was unConstitutional from the outset and should have been so ruled decades ago. Unfortunately what this shows is that blatantly unConstitutional programs can persist for decades before a court finally finds the stones to shut 'em down.

Monday, June 22

Net effect of Obamacare, subsidies, and clear language in the bill that Obozo argues doesn't mean what it says

As the date approaches for release of the Supreme Court's decision on whether the clear and unambiguous language of the laughably misnamed "Affordable Care Act" means what it says, the beauty of the whole exercise from the Democrat/liberal/"progressive" standpoint is becoming clear. Watch the chain unfold below:

This stinker of a law--forcing Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine--would never have passed without the explicit provision that low-income folks would have most of their costs reimbursed through "subsidies."

The law clearly states that such subsidies would only be available to people who bought insurance "through an Exchange established by a State." (If a state didn't establish one, people could buy through the federal government's "exchange.")

Key drafter Jonathan Gruber (whose name has become a synonym for "liar") is on video several times saying this provision was deliberately included because it was an incentive for the states to establish their own health-insurance "exchanges." The Democrats wanted this because it would spread the blame for any failures. Angry voters would take their anger out on the states rather than the federal government.

Clever, huh.

But much to the surprise of Dem congresswhores, only a handful of states established their own exchanges. Meaning residents of those states shouldn't have been eligible to receive subsidies.

Keep reading--we're about to close the loop:

At the order of the emperor, in violation of the clear language of the law, the government paid subsidies to everyone, regardless of whether they signed up on a state exchange or the federal one.

Now, behold the Great Rachet: If the Supreme Court interprets the language as meaning what it says, the dems and their media army will scream to high heaven that the GOP has snatched money from the mouths of the poor--even though the GOP has zip to do with the Supreme Court and didn't vote for the ACA.

The united scream will cement another two million votes firmly in the Democrat column.

What's happened here is that the Democrats--led by and with full intent of the emperor--voted for taxpayers to give "freebies" to Democrat constituents. So thereafter, any attempt to revoke the "freebies"--even if done by the Court rather than the GOP, and done to honor the clear language of the law, which itself was a ruse to win it the votes needed to pass it--will be blamed on the GOP.

In other words, it'll never be taken away. The GOP will do anything to save it. Which makes them complicit in the unconstitutional power grab.

Two weeks ago a government attorney in New York hit a libertarian website with a subpoena, demanding it turn over information that would identify two commenters to an article on its website. Apparently the commenters had written something like "the SOB's who did that should be shot" or something similar--and the U.S. attorney in NY took this as a serious threat, not protected as free speech.

A couple of days ago the gag order was lifted, and the website (and magazine) revealed the details. But the question is, how many times has the government demanded information and simultaneously issued an order forbidding the defendant from saying anything about the demand?

And how would any of you know?

Anyone recall that infamous line, "Mine will be the most transparent administration in history"? How's that workin' for ya?

Media bias, example number gazillion

The man whose head seems to be inches from the muzzle (for you gun-phobes that's the end the bullet exits from) is GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

Gosh, that seems pretty inflammatory, doesn't it?

The message is even clearer when you see the original, uncropped pic. Here it is:

Either the AP or the photog intentionally cropped it way down to get their cunning, hateful message across.

Does anyone think the cropped version is more informative? Newsworthy? Communicates a nuance, perhaps? No, of course not. The AP cropped it down to about 5 percent of the original for one reason: to get a message across. And then denied they had any such intent. Sure.

But not to worry, serfs: The AP has done much the same thing with its pics of the emperor. Some examples:

Oh, wait...those *aren't* guns pointed at him. In fact they all look like...halos??

With so many artfully composed pics of the emperor you'd almost think the photogs were doing this deliberately, eh? Now contrast the above pics with the one of Cruz.

Leftist hypocrisy, example 452,328--this time from the beacons of (un)reason at Salon

Conservatives have long noted the hypocrisy of the Left: One set of rules for them and a far different set for their opponents. And here's the latest example:

Following the killings by the obviously deranged Dylann Roof in Charleston, liberals have been exploding in white guilt, angst and similar. According to Salon, for example, ALL whites must share the blame for the murders.

If that image is fuzzy, the left one is from three days ago and says "White America must answer for the Charleston church massacre."

The one on the right is from two years ago, after the Boston marathon bombing by two Muslim brothers, the Tsarnaevs, killed 3 and ripped the limbs off others. It reads: "Muslims don't need to apologize for the Tsarnaevs."

Before the internet no one could have proven that the Leftist assholes at Salon had such a blatant double-standard. Of course those on the right already knew, and those on the left wouldn't mind a bit. Anything's fair for their cause.

Friday, June 19

121 illegals who were convicted felons were released by Feds and went on to...you won't believe.

Let me describe a scenario many of you have experienced: Some organization or rogue newspaper or blogger discovers that the government is doing X--something so astonishingly stupid, harmful and bad that it's simply impossible to believe.

They duly report the finding. At first no one believes it, but then slowly, drip by drip, the relevant agencies grudgingly, mumblingly admit that, um...well, maybe there's something to that story after all.

And then months later, the full story comes out. And sure enough, the fucking government was doing exactly what the first investigator claimed they were doing--as stupid and harmful and crazy as it may have sounded.

But by that time the public's attention has shifted to some new bit of hotness, some new scandal, some new...aw the hell with it.

In any case every editor at every paper and TV station claims no one is interested it that "old story" any longer. It's boring. "Who cares?" So voters never hear or read about the full admission of stupidity, harm, damage and so on. The story has effectively been tossed down Orwell's "memory hole."

(Extra chocolate rations if readers can tell me what that actually referred to.)

Want to see an example? You probably don't, but I'll do it anyway, because you need to know what the hell is really going on in this country. And you don't.

No matter. Anyway, the example is illegal immigrants. The emperor's lackeys never detain them, but release 'em with a "court date." They sign something saying they promise to appear.

Now this next part will stun you: A full 94 percent of 'em don't show up.

And why would that be? I'm sure you'll all be shocked to learn that there's no penalty for an illegal who doesn't show up for his or her court date.

You'll probably need to read that again--because it's so fucking unbelievably stupid: If you don't show up for the promised hearing, there's no penalty.

Oh, all manner of paperwork is duly generated and issued. To no effect whatsoever. The gummint only manages to find something like six percent of the no-show illegals. And even then they have a good chance of being allowed to stay in the U.S.

We call that "pencil-whipping a problem."

Now let's review: Who out there thinks that once the illegals learned there was no penalty for not showing up, any other outcome was likely? No one? Yeah, pretty predictable.

So why didn't your betters in the immigration business--and it's one hellofa lucrative one, for sure--figure this out sooner? Of course it could all be due to incompetence, but I'm betting it's intentional. This isn't a bug, it's a *feature.* The ACLU gets a chance to wail about how awful and unfair it is that the gummint doesn't just let everyone in who wants in, laws be damned. And at that point the gummint usually caves and releases the three or four illegals it's actually detaining.

Again, this is all a charade. It's part of the emperor's plan to overwhelm U.S. agencies with infinite demands for money and resources--a tactic called "Cloward-Piven." The goal is to collapse capitalism and create an electorate that will vote Democrat forever.

Most of you will figure it out, eventually. At which point it'll be too late, of course. But "What difference, at this point, could it possibly make," right?

Sheeit, that sounds SO familiar? Who the hell said that?

No matter. In any case, the bottom line is that the emperor's toadies have released 121 illegals who had previously been convicted of felony crimes.

Thursday, June 18

OPM computer "hack" seems to have been because they outsourced computer security to Chinese nationals!

You may have heard some vague murmurings about the computer servers at the federal government's "Office of Personnel Management" being "hacked," and files being copied on as many as ten million federal employees. Early reports included speculation that the hack was done by the Chinese government.

Well, turns out there's more to the story. It wasn't a cyber-attack as such. It was worse: Turns out OPM--an agency totally controlled by the emperor--contracted out its computer security to a company heavily staffed by Chinese nationals. And it gave those contractors what's called "root access" to OPM's computers.

For non-geeks that means the Chinese could change anything in the system--including uploading spyware, trapdoors and all manner of "malware."

Now even if computers aren't your area of expertise, you're probably wondering how an agency of the federal government could manage to give root access to Chinese nationals. (And we don't mean "people of Chinese origin or ancestry" but current residents of China with Chinese passports.) It seems either incompetent, insane or traitorous.

Well, here's a clue: The person Obama appointed to head the OPM is one Katherine Achuleta--whose biography posted at opm.gov reveals a background devoid of real management expertise but long on political loyalty.

Director
Archuleta...was the first Latina to head this federal agency.

Director Archuleta [was] a teacher in
the Denver public school system....[then] an aide
to Denver Mayor [D] Federico Peña. When Mayor Peña became Secretary of
Transportation during the Clinton Administration, Archuleta [became] his Chief of Staff. Later, Peña was appointed to
head the Department of Energy and Archuleta served as a Senior Policy
Advisor.

After the Clinton Administration she went back to local government
and became a senior policy advisor to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Archuleta spent the first two years of the Obama Administration
serving as the Chief of Staff to Labor Secretary
Hilda Solis.

Here's Ms. Archuleta:

In the Age of Obama the overriding rule of government is to put people
in charge of government agencies not due to their competence, but because
they have the proper symbolic value in terms of race and gender. And of course political reliability is crucial.

The new fable is that Archuleta discovered the "hack" herself, as a result of investigating computer security at OPM. This of course is being contradicted by numerous low-level employees who've said the problem with the entity in charge of computer security had been known for over a year, and many warnings about the Chinese nationals had been passed up the chain--and ignored.

Sunday, June 14

Government screws up A,B & C but wants to take total control of D, E & F

The emperor's administration has conclusively shown that they can't protect our embassies or consulates, can't protect the border, can't protect their own IT
infrastructure, can't keep intruders out of the grounds of the White House, can't protect
the Capitol Building, can't defend our allies....
and yet they want total control over:

-health care for every American
-every single puddle of water in the country, whether or not navigable
-every detail of elementary and high school curricula
-what can be transmitted over the internet
-privately owned land
-school lunches
-our food choices
-your right to bear arms
-your alleged freedom of speech and expression
-your right to free exercise of your religious beliefs
-your right to be secure in our persons and free from unreasonable search and seizure

Here's a novel idea: Once government starts doing a passable job on the items in the first 'graf, then we'll talk about the other ones. Until then, fuck off.

Seems Texas has a law barring the sale of food that needs time or
temperature control to prevent it from spoiling if the control isn't present. Since the lemonade
would eventually grow mold after being left out for days, police said
they needed both an inspection from the health department and a permit to
sell it.

The cost of the permit alone is $150. No word on whether putting ice in the lemonade would satisfy the law's requirement for temperature control.

Luckily neither the girls nor their dog were shot, tazed, tear-gassed or maced. Neither they nor their parents were jailed, and they weren't hit with hundred of dollars in fines. So it could have been worse. And in a lot of states it would have been.

Such is the sad, sorry state of our mad governments today, when even Texas shuts down little girls for trying to sell lemonade.

Both the police chief and code enforcement need to be fired. But of course they won't be.

Seven years ago ABC predicted NYC would be underwater, and lots of other things. Why?

Exactly seven years ago today, the ABC television network did a piece supposedly forecasting what things would be like just seven years in the future--i.e. today. To say their forecasts were ludicrous is an understatement. Here, see for yourself:
* New York City would be underwater
* Gasoline would cost nine bucks a gallon
* Milk would cost $13 a gallon

A quick check shows that a gallon of gas costs about $2.40 here in flyover country (higher in coastal states but that's because of their taxes and regs, not the cost of the gas). A gallon of milk averages about $3.40. And last time I looked, the sea level around NYC was just where it's been for years, give or take a millimeter.

People often try to predict conditions 50 or 100 years ahead, because when that year rolls around no one remembers. But why would ABC make such totally radical forecasts for a time so near in the future--since if they proven wrong, many people would remember (at least with the help of the wonderful internet)?

Oh wait--wasn't something fairly critical for the U.S. scheduled to happen just five months after ABC's apocalyptic predictions in 2008?

Oh, that's right: a presidential election.

And which party would benefit from one of the big-three broadcast networks scaring people about the price of staples like milk and gasoline, or the alleged catastrophic effects of global warming--like rising sea levels submerging NYC?

Why, that would be the same party that wants to dismantle "evil" capitalism and the free market in favor of government bureaucrats controlling every aspect of life.

In case you're new to this country, that would be the Democrats.

Seems like the most likely explanation for ABC going so far out on a limb to make scary, absurd predictions was that they were trying to help elect the emperor. What a surprise.

Since everyone out here in flyover country is so busy working and raising their kids (etc), you may not have heard that someone--thought to be the Chinese government--hacked the computers of the federal Office of Personnel Management and made off with copies of files on millions of current and former fed employees. (The data on file cover 4 million people and OPM still isn't sure how many files were copied.) [SEE UPDATE at bottom.]

I'm sure none of you will be surprised to hear that the OPM is downplaying the severity of the hack and the possible damage. A spokesman said what
was taken “could include” personal file information such as birth
dates.

Gee, birth dates? No wonder they're not very worried! What a nothing story, right?

You need to think like an attorney: Parse the guy's words carefully. He gave an example--totally unnecessary, of course--of personal information "such as..." But in fact the real extent of the damage is huge--because the "personal data" includes the full contents of an innocuous little form called an SF-86.

That "little" form actually contains 127 pages of raw information from background checks of people who were either applying for a fed job or seeking a higher security clearance.

Now I know you'll all be shocked to learn that a few hundred thousand federal employees--like a lot of regular civilians--managed to get hired even though they have some very embarassing stuff in their background checks. If a hostile government wanted to focus efforts to recruit spies based on vulnerability to blackmail, in the most efficient possible way, having this info would be an invaluable resource. Or if a fed employee had relatives living in China who could be squeezed unless the employee agree to help the Chinese government. You get the picture.

So that's bad enough. But equally troubling is that OPM--following that wonderful model of "transparency" that your emperor promised he'd follow if he took the White Hut--has lied about how the hack was discovered. In a *very* carefully worded press release they claim they discovered it after investigating their own system, but it's now been reported that the theft was discovered when a computer security company was demonstrating its latest software, designed to detect spy programs in large computer systems.

Apparently the company's software worked as advertised, and found the spying program.

Of course if you don't work for the federal gummint, no big deal, right? Au contraire. You have medical records, right? And with Obamacare they're all on a federal computer somewhere. Do you think your medical records are any safer than the OPM's?

The OPM lied about how this theft was discovered because the official fable made them look less incompetent. So if your med records were stolen, do you think that gummint agency would tell you about it? Do you think they'd lie to cover their asses?
===
UPDATE: Two new developments now being reported. First is that the original breach may have resulted in the theft of records on not just 4 million, but...14 million people.

And a second breach has been discovered, on a different computer. Sources say files on about 2.9 million people may have been stolen. More worrisome is that this attack was specifically on a database of people applying for security clearances.

OPM refused to comment on this latest report.

Whaddya wanna bet that if anyone is fired for OPM having poor security it'll just be some lowly GS-3 secretary or data fetcher. None of the higher-ups will be tagged. Why? Because they know where the bodies are buried, so to speak.

Thursday, June 11

Gas price still moderate--because U.S. oil production is over 5 million barrels per day *higher* than 15 years ago!

As we head into the summer, gasoline is still hovering around $2.40 a gallon here in flyover country. Great news for most of us. (Except politicians, who motor on taxpayer-purchased gas, couldn't care less.)

Here's the twist: If not for an amazing, brilliant effort by a stunningly competent group of folks, your gas would cost way over $8 a gallon by now.

And who is that amazing, brilliant, competent team that's responsible for saving you five and a half bucks a gallon? Why, it's...the emperor's hand-picked energy secretary and advisors!

Hahahahahahahahaha! That's some funny bullshit. The emperor and company couldn't find their ass with both hands. Instead the amazing, brilliant, competent group is...those hard-working souls who explore and drill for oil in the U.S. And not a single one employed by government.

Stay with me here, because the truth is so unbelievable that you'll think I'm making it up.

The graph below shows U.S. oil production for the last 16 years.

Put a ruler over the thing from its left edge--1999--to May of 2007.
Where that ruler intersects the right edge of the graph is the amount
of oil the U.S. would have been producing today, based on that 8-year trend.

Unless you've been in the oil business you almost certainly have no idea of the effect the graph above has on the price of gas--and thus on your monthly expenses. Example: If a fire or terrorist act or hurricane anywhere in the world takes, say, half-a-million barrels per day (out of a total of about 94 million barrels per day) off the market, world prices go up a lot. And of course the same trend also works the other way: If a new field comes on line off Nigeria, adding half a million barrels per day to world production, the price of oil is pushed down.

Now, by some magic the United States alone is now producing roughly 5.5 million more barrels per day than would have been the case, based on the decline in conventional production.

This gain--by itself--has almost certainly cut the price you pay for gas by way over half. Which means that if this extra production hadn't happened you'd probably be seeing prices in the $8 per gallon range.

What caused U.S. oil production to break the long depletion trend? Where did all that extra oil come from? From brilliant technology, pioneered by skilled companies both big and small, and improved by a long series of very costly trial-and-error wells. Wells drilled and paid for by tax-paying companies, not government. And some of those companies were very small family operations a decade ago, but have grown immensely--by being skilled, hard-working and diligent.

And this new technology is being applied all over the world to find new fields and get more oil out of "mature" fields, keeping the world's economy humming for extra decades.

Remember the emperor's infamous line, "You didn't build that"? Well asshole, these folks *did* build that. And because they did, Americans are saving billions. And can fill up for $50 or so instead of twice that.

You used the power of government to ram through Obamacare, promising that the average family would save $2500 per year. That didn't happen, despite all the billions of taxpayer bucks spent on your pile of crap. But these private individuals made a huge breakthrough that really is saving American families lots of money. So tell us again why free markets suck--why government is so f'n great, and allegedly the solution to all problems.

Horse shit. Your emperor is a socialist moron.

Oh, and don't forget that Al Gore and the Democrats want to tax carbon when it's produced, and again when the products of its combustion (CO2) are emitted. They want you drive electric cars with a range of maybe 120 miles. Maybe that's fine for New York, but out here in flyover country it's not.
===

Wednesday, June 10

You won't believe the latest IRS defense to keep from turning over crucial emails

Does the name "Lois Lerner" ring a bell?

She was the IRS department chief whose department came up with those illegal, intrusive questions to ask conservative political groups to delay granting them tax-exempt status--some for as long as three years!--while leftist and liberal groups sailed through the entire process in as little as 30 days.

When congress tried to ask Lerner who instructed her to invent these tactics and to use them only to delay conservative groups, she refused to answer, taking the Fifth. Congress then subpoenaed her computer and emails.

Ooops, a mysterious hard drive crash took out exactly the two-year period when her program got started--the time you would expect to find any instructions from higher-ups. Gosh, this is just soooo unfortunate for you Republican members of congress!

Well that's...uh...quite a coincidence, huh. But shouldn't be a problem because federal law requires that all agencies not only preserve their emails but also have backups to prevent exactly this kind of loss. And you folks at the IRS must be familiar with this federal law, right? Cuz you sure as shit demand--demand--that us ordinary folk be up to date on every twist and detail of your ridiculously complex tax laws, on pain of fines. Even if we don't subscribe to the absurdly costly Federal Register or whatever the fuck you people call the 100-foot-long shelf of fed rules.

So...produce the damn backups!

Oh, so sorry...there aren't any backups. Which is hard to figure because we remember asking that new hire to set that up the very day the law passed, so...can't figure out why they aren't there. Wish you could ask the guy but he was a drug addict who got killed in a drug deal. Sad. And we looked really, really diligently for any. Really. But even if we'd found any, our tech folks say they wouldn't be...um...organized very well, so it would be almost impossible to search them to find the ones from and to Lerner. I mean, you could maybe do it but it would cost millions and millions of dollars. And sine you Rethuglicans are always whining about not wasting taxpayer money we know you wouldn't want to do that! But that's all moot 'cuz there aren't any backups. Really.

WHAT?? But that violates federal law!

Fuck you, citizen. We're the government, so we don't have to obey your stupid f'n laws. Not only that, we're the IRS, so fuck all your relatives, too.

[Six months later a whistleblower reports says his department is the one that stores backup tapes of emails; that they DO have the tapes in question; and that they're easy to search for a specific email or sender or recipient. But here's the bomb: guy says that the IRS never asked 'em to produce the Lerner tapes.

Never. Asked.

Someone should be executed for this kind of brazen lying, but we'll get to that later. In any case, all the above is just background so you'll have a reference for this next bombshell, released yesterday.

One imagines the IRS attorneys saw Hillary get away absolutely untouched after stonewalling congress about her doing all official business on a private, non-government server in her home, and then refusing to turn over 95 percent of those emails on the grounds they were personal.

But of course no independent person was allowed toverify that. You just have to trust her word. Because she's always been so honest the rest of her life, right?

So I expect they saw Hilly's thorough lying work and said "Aha! Here's what we'll do...!"

It's the Democrat way, baby. And besides...Dude, that was two years ago! That's not even news anymore.

Tuesday, June 9

Victor Hanson: "We're descending into a new Dark Ages."

Victor Hanson is an excellent student of history, and a good writer. His analyses of our current national situation is chilling: It's grim to the point that we're almost down to two options: surrender, or civil war.

As he sees it we're descending into a New Dark Ages. The Constitution has been shredded, half of American voters are incapable of thinking past today, and will vote for the candidate who promises them the most free stuff. Free speech is almost dead on campus--which was once the heart of the free-speech movement!

Obama's former attorney-general, Eric Holder, said Americans needed to have a discussion about race, but were too scared to do so. Hanson notes that implicit in Holder's absurd charge was that no one would be allowed to examine the role government welfare had played in the destruction of the black family. Other presumably off-limits topics would be the epidemic of violence, crime and drug use, and the cult of the hyper-macho male.

Other forbidded topics include the dilemma of the Social Security system, our huge national debt, and the utter, hypocritical corruption of the leading Democrat presidential candidate, who set up a slush fund that let foreign countries seeking a favorable ruling from the State Department donate tens of millions of dollars to improve their chances of getting one. But hey, no corruption or favoritism here.

A common theme supported by the media--albeit tacitly--is the acceptance of lies as if they were true--because the lie offers collective
benefits, while truth either disrupts social justice or ruins a nice scam run by connected people.

Take Obamacare. Almost
every promoted tenet of the Affordable Care Act proved false: The emperor promised the average family would save $2,500 per year. Instead premiums
went up--along with deductibles. Millions lost not just
their doctors but their existing health care plans
as well. The much ballyhooed health care website was initially dysfunctional, and barely improved. Numerous mandatory provisions of the new law were unlawfully delayed, because their stated start dates would have hurt Obama's
reelection chances.

We've put up with garbage from Obama that would have gotten any prior president impeached. And now the Republicans--who were finally given a majority in both houses of congress last election--are actually helping him pass bills like the Trans Pacific Partnership that no one is allowed to reveal to the American people.

Monday, June 8

"Goodbye Sweden."

U.S. liberals/Democrats/"progressives" think we're on the right track with Obamacare, socialism and open borders, combined with a Dem government that instantly rewards illegal immigrants with food, shelter and all maner of benefits, including amnesty and eventual citizenship.

But many other advanced, first-world nations have done the same thing--most of western Europe, for example. To see how well these policies work, why not look at their experiences?

When I was a child, Sweden was a dull yet very safe place to live. Yes, there was a heavy blanket of socialism and collectivist values over everything, but there was a core of pragmatism.

Today it’s as if the inmates are running the asylum. Politicians all try to one-up each other in caring for immigrants, while Swedish retirees, school children, handicapped and other vulnerable categories of people are thorougly ignored. Violence is exploding.

The Swedish school system is a complete disaster. Many university students can’t read or comprehend the course literature. The minister of education is a man-boy who spends his time making Youtube-videos showing heart-signs with his hands to boost school results.

The cost--both current and future--is astronomical. Like much of the western world, there are fewer tax-paying adults to support a glut of retirees. What makes it especially dire for Sweden is that in addition to the Swedish retirees there’s also a huge number of elderly immigrants who are granted “family visas” based on younger relatives who've been granted asylum. They’ve never paid a dime in taxes, yet enter the system with full benefits from day one.

Here's another, easily understood sign of the failure of socialist policies: Fifty years ago the Swedish health care system had 120 000 hospital beds. Today it has 20,000. Cancer patients are put on waiting lists for months. Entire emergency wards are shut down for summer.

There's a lot more but you get the drift.

Italy is being inundated by waves of illegal immigrants from Africa coming over in boats. The Italian navy rescued 2,000 in a single day last week. And the smugglers know the coast guards of all the European nations will rescue their passengers, which makes the operation far easier.

Most of the immigrants rescued by the Italians say they want to keep moving north, to countries with more generous welfare benefits than Italy provides. Hmmm...so do ya think the level of welfare benefits might be a big part of their motivation?

While waves of illegals causes many problems, the overriding one is this: Once they find that simply heading for Europe works, the number of people willing and able to do the same thing is essentially infinite. The pool of would-be immigrants will never shrink. Never.

Hey, say the libs, No problem! You want them to assimilate, we'll claim it's happening. Yay! Problem solved! And if you dumb xenophobic retards have are any more objections to our wonderful policies, we'll solve them exactly the same way. Cuz we're smaht and you're not.

In London, Paris and other major European cities, muslims have actually declared certain areas "sharia-controlled zones." They've posted signs banning alcohol, music, revealing clothes etc. And they enforce these by bands of volunteers who patrol the streets in packs, sometimes even wearing vests labeled “sharia police.”

If the text isn't clear it says "No alcohol," "No music or concerts" and "No smoking." The one below adds "No pork" and "No improper outfits." These are all outrageous but the last is a real wowser because "improper" isn't defined--meaning the shariah police can harass anyone for wearing damn near anything. But of course this is the whole point.

The pics above were taken in London, fer cryin' out loud.

Do you think this is so far-fetched that it must be fiction? Staged? Think it's unbelievable that a country like the U.K. or France would tolerate anything like this--wouldn't just tear down all the signs and throw the vaunted "sharia police" in jail, or deport 'em?

Think again, cupcake. It's all too f'n real. And we're only a year or two behind 'em.

The number of foreign-born individuals holding jobs in the United States
increased by 279,000 to 25,098,000 in May, according to data released
Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In January 2009,
when President Obama took office, there were 21,375,000 foreign-born
workers employed in the United States. Since then, the number has
increased by 3,723,000.

Wait...280,000 jobs added last month, and the number of foreign-born job-holders increased by 279,000 ?

Now, the BLS takes pains to point out that its numbers for "foreign-born" don't distinguish between legal and illegals. So no one is remotely claiming that 279,000 jobs last month were grabbed by illegals. But that doesn't change the fact that the net number of new jobs filled by American-born workers seems to have only increased by...1,000.

But no matter, citizen: The economy is booming! Happy days are here again! Oh, and if you were one of the thousands of Americans working for Disney who just got replaced by imported "guest workers"--and then were required to train the workers who replaced you--the emperor says go to the end of that big line over there to apply for unemployment. And if you lose your house in the meantime, don't worry, because Obama!

Oh, one more tiny tidbit: For native-born workers the unemployment rate increased to 5.4 percent in May from 5.1 percent in April. You did see that in all the headlines, right? I mean, if unemployment increased by three-tenths of a percent when Bush was president it would have been the lede story in every paper in the country. So you did see this story, right?

As the Islamic State army edges closer and closer to Damascus
and Baghdad, as a lion stalks its prey, watch closely at how defeat eats
away at the loser, because these two cities are just appetisers. When
we descend on the streets of London, Paris and Washington the taste will
be far bitterer, because not only will we spill your blood, but we will
also demolish your statues, erase your history and, most painfully,
convert your children who will then go on to champion our name and curse
their forefathers.

But don't worry, citizens: This man and the things he's threatening have nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. In fact, this man can't be a true muslim at all, but delusionally believes he is. How in the world could he possibly know which religion he belongs to? The only way a person is correctly assigned to a religion is if your government makes an official determination. And your emperor says this man is not muslim.

So you needn't worry a bit. He's a "lone wolf." As are the other 174 bearded men in camo who appear in the video with him. All these "lone wolves" just happened to show up on the same day and forced the innocent non-muslims running ISIS's professional video production facility to make this film.

So go back to watching MSNBC, or "America's Got Talent" or whatever it is you like. My expert appointees like Marie Harf and Jen Psaki and John Kerry have things firmly under control, and if you need to know anything we'll tell you. Because my policies have made America safer than at any time in its history. You know that's true, because the NY Times says so.

Oh, and be sure to vote Democrat, so we can continue making America safer and stronger and more respected than at any time in its history!

Q: Uh, excuse me, excellency. Can you tell us what actual number corresponds to "several'?

FBI guy: (inaudible)

Q: Um, excuse us but no one in the audience could hear you. Could you please, kindly, we beg you, repeat that?

FBI guy: "Four (inaudible)."

Q: Is that "four"?

FBI: "...million."

Q: "Uh...whoa."

One official
described it as "one of the largest" thefts of government data ever seen. No one could think of a larger theft off-hand but no one wanted to say this one was "THE largest" since that might get their ass fired by the emperor.

Investigators said the hack was a separate attack from one detected last year. Which suggests the OPM didn't tighten their security much since the first attack.

An FBI spokesman said the agency...well, you decide what he said:
a) "...is working with other parts of the
government to investigate."
b) “...takes all potential threats to public and
private sector systems very seriously,"
c) "...will continue to investigate and
hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,"
d) "...argle bargle dinkle tinkle yowza."
e) all of the above statements are equally informative.

Later in the day the emperor held a press conference in the Rose Garden in which he said "Our computer systems, like our borders and national security, are all safer than at any time in our nation's history thanks to my leadership."

Whereupon every member of the White Hut press corps applauded. Vigorously.

A letter from South Africa

I think the following is from a guy named Robbie Noel, who lives in South Africa. They're going through hell there, with little chance of surviving. Their experiences contain some valuable lessons for the rest of the world.

The grim model for the future of the U.S. is...South Africa. Our nation was destroyed by events that, in hindsight, were obvious and predictable. (Indeed, many predicted the path.) Sadly, recent events in America reveal trends chillingly similar to those that destroyed our country.

Americans are peace-lovers. If you're really upset about something you may write a letter to your editor, or to your congressional representative. That is what you know, and what you're comfortable with. Those are the only ways you know to keep your country on track and to ensure political accountability.

But what do you do when your government becomes not just corrupt, but blatantly, brazenly, obviously corrupt. At that point violence, riots, intimidation through accusations of racism, demands for racial quotas, and all the other social and political weapons used by the have-nots to bludgeon treasure and power from the haves will become daily occurrences.

We in S.A. know, because we experienced all those things.

At that point your politicians--like those in our country--will surrender, just as ours did. They will give away your independence and ultimately your way of life.

It doesn't matter how angry or brave individual Americans may be, because your politicians control the police and the military. What they want will happen, regardless of how angry some may be about it, just as happens now. Can any of you rein in Hillary Clinton's illegal millions, or your president's shredding of your Constitution? No, I didn't think so.

What will happen to you--what's already happening--is exactly what happened in South Africa. I know, because I was there and I saw it happen.

Faced with strikes and the sheer terror and murder practiced by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), the white government simply capitulated--surrendered--in order to achieve what they absuredly billed as "peace." Westerners need peace. We seek order and stability. We're builders, thinkers, planners. But what we got for our society was the peace of the grave.

All but the most fanatical liberals know the Third World is...different. There, constant war and lawlessness is the norm. But stunningly, your liberals--who run your country as they ran ours--simply refuse to believe the same kind of savagery could come to America. This makes you sitting ducks for Third World exploitation of the Western disease of "compassion."

Though your politicians and liberal elites couldn't grasp (or refused to) what their rape of South Africa would unleash--since few of them had ever been here--you'd think they'd be able to learn from the same problems now unfolding in Europe: The Scandinavian countries--once so peaceful as to be thought by some to be boring--now have among the highest rates of rape in the world--all from immigrants.

Immigrants are flooding Europe from all parts of Africa, demanding power and treasure from the countries they've invaded.

It's far too late for South Africa--but you still have a chance to save yourselves from our fate. You'll have to defeat the race terrorists, the armies of the "politically correct" and, most dangerous of all, the craven politicians who believe "compassionate conservatism" will buy them a few more votes, a few more days of peace. It will be unbelievably hard.

We lost our country through skillful propaganda, pressure from other supposedly civilized countries (including the U.S.) and unrelenting charges of "oppression" and "racism." African tyrants deduced that white societies have many weaknesses, the most significant of which are his compassion, his belief in the "equality of man," and his "love your neighbor" philosophy -- none of which are part of the Third World's history.

The mainline churches also played a big role in the demise of Western influence throughout Africa, too; especially in South Africa.

From what I have seen and read thus far, I fear Americans will capitulate just as we did. Seventy-five years ago Americans were tough enough to go toe to tow with one of the most proficient military forces in history, and win. Now you're become soft. Complacent. Rather than oppose or quarrel with those who claim to have been wronged, you prefer to write letters to the editor--for all the good that does. You hope for peace and quiet, and want to compromise and be nice. This will kill you as surely as it killed us.

A television program aired in South Africa showed a town meeting in Southern California where people were complaining about falling standards in the schools. Whites spoke politely and quietly about their concerns. But when a handful of Chicanos at the back of the hall shouted and waved their hands at them, the whites simply slunk back into their seats rather than tell the noisemakers to shut up. They didn't want to argue.

In America you believe the courts are the final arbiters of your laws. But many of you already sense that even your high courts are corrupt. Look at the contradictions that the Supreme Court accepted to rule Obamacare constitutional: The government claimed it wasn't a tax, but the court claimed it was.

What will happen when your future majority refuses to abide by court rulings -- as in Zimbabwe? What will happen when the virtually every judge sides with illegal immigrants or their sympathizers? In California, Proposition 187 has already been overturned.

What will you do when the future nonwhite majority decides to change the names of streets and cities? What will you do when they demand to change the portraits on your money? How about when the courts tell your kids they can't wear shirts bearing your national flag because it might anger immigrants?

Will you surrender, like many of your states did on flying the Confederate flag?

What about when they demand new words to your national anthem? Think it can't happen?

Don't laugh. When the "majority" took over in South Africa, the first targets were our national symbols. Now the government is tearing down statues of those who founded the country.

In another decade America may well face what South Africa is now experiencing -- invasions of private land by the "have-nots;" the decline in health care quality; roads and buildings in disrepair; banning the teaching of your history in the schools; the increasing corruption of police and the courts.

In South Africa today only 9 percent of murderers end up in jail. Defendants use connections or cash to bribe clerks to give up court dockets, which simply disappear. Magistrates can be bribed as can the prison authorities, making escapes commonplace. Bribes secure vehicle and airplane licenses for a fraction of their true cost, and forged school and university certificates are routine.

What would you think of the ritual slaughter of animals in your neighbor's backyard? How do you clean up the blood and entrails that litter your suburban streets? How do you feel about the practice of witchcraft, in which the parts of young girls and boys are needed for "medicinal" purposes? How do you react to the burning of witches?

Don't laugh. All that is quite common in South Africa today.

Do you foolishly imagine that government officials caught with their fingers in the till will be punished? They're not even punished now in the U.S. And in the future the only excuses needed will be that the defendant was simply trying to compensate for generations of white racism. I think your term is "reparations."

Increasingly your tax dollars will go to those who don't work and don't pay taxes. Meanwhile more money will be cut from defense, while taxes are raised on private businesses.

Unfortunately, your habits and values work against you. You cannot successfully fight terror and street mobs with letters to your congressmen. You cannot fight accusations of racism with prayer meetings. Appeal to the goodness of your fellow man are futile when the fellow man despises you for your weakness and hacks off the arms and legs of his political opponents.

Above all, don't put off fighting until your backs are against the wall. The cost will be far greater, and the odds of succeeding smaller.

Millions around the world want your good life. But make no mistake: They care not for the high-minded ideals of Jefferson and Washington, and your Constitution. What they want are your possessions, your power, and your status.

And they already know that their allies among you, the "human rights activists," the skillful lawyers and the left-wing politicians will fight for them, not for you. They will exploit your compassion and your Christian charity, and your good will.

They have studied you, Mr. and Mrs. America, and they know your weaknesses well.

U.S. liberals: "We're all just alike." Palestinian TV: "Not so fast..."

"They're just like us."

How many times have you read that phrase in a mainstream publication, or heard it said on a mainstream cable network, or on a liberal website, all applied to ISIS or Iranians or Palestinians?

Well here's a calibration check for ya: A palestinian school girl--maybe ten years old--is shown on Pali TV reciting a poem.

Aw, ain't that cute? What are the words?

Ah, here comes the translation. Let's see here: "Jews are barbaric monkeys, most evil among creations."

Now obviously kids only know what they've been taught, so if you heard some kid on the street saying something really hateful, you sort of shrug it off. They don't know better. But when a television network shows this girl reciting this poem--without criticism--it's an entirely different matter: The adults clearly agree with her, because they're giving her this far-reaching electronic platform to get this exact message out.

So let's see here: We teach our kids that everyone is alike, all religions are equally valid and so on. And they're teaching...well, you see.

How do you think that's gonna work out?

Now, I'm not Jewish, don't work for an Israeli company, don't own any stock in one. My sole point here is the astonishing discrepancy between what U.S. liberals are spouting (and teaching your kids) about how everyone is alike, kumbayah, and what the major players over in the mid-east are teaching *their* kids.

But really, we're all just alike, right?

Meanwhile the emperor continues to chide Netanyahu for not jumping on-board making Palestine a state. Uh-huh. This cartoon gets Obama's position about right:

Wednesday, June 3

Last Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency--hardly an aggressively pro-western group--reported that during the last 18 months, while it negotiated with the U.S., Iran increased its stocks of enriched uranium by 20 percent.

With
only a month left before a deadline to complete a nuclear deal with
Iran, international inspectors have reported that Tehran’s stockpile of
nuclear fuel increased about 20 percent over the last 18 months of
negotiations, partially undercutting the Obama administration’s
contention that the Iranian program had been “frozen” during that
period.

But
Western officials and experts cannot quite figure out why. One
possibility is that Iran has run into technical problems that have kept
it from converting some of its enriched uranium into fuel rods for
reactors, which would make the material essentially unusable for
weapons. Another is that it is increasing its stockpile to give it an
edge if the negotiations fail.

[IAEA] inspectors, who have had almost daily access to most of Iran’s
nuclear production facilities, reported finding no evidence that Iran
was racing toward a nuclear weapon, and said Tehran had halted work on
facilities that could have given it bomb-making capabilities.

See, citizen, there's not a thing to worry about! So what if they've increased their stockpile by a fifth? Cuz the IAEA "reported finding no evidence that Iran was racing toward" a bomb. And who better than the IAEA to know that? Because they've had access to "most of" Iran's nuclear production facilities. At least the ones we know about. So why should you worry?

And note that this only "partially" undercuts our emperor's claim that Iran's nuclear program had been "frozen" while the long-drawn-out negotiations dragged on. (They've passed 3 supposed deadlines now, with no consequence to Iran other than more time to do anything needed to advance their position.)

Trust us, citizen: There is no need for you to have any concerns at all about Iran building an atomic bomb. What you really should worry about is some "domestic terrorist" like the Tea Party getting one!

Tuesday, June 2

South Africa? Just a few years ahead of us.

In 1994 the white government of South Africa essentially stepped down when it opened elections to everyone in the country. As expected, the election was won by the communist African National Congress.

There were many concerns about the ANC taking over the government. One was, did it have enough people with enough skill to govern a modern nation with a highly developed, technological economy?

The answer now seems clear: It didn't.

It hasn't even managed to maintain such a basic necessity as the country's electrical system, even though when it took over it had 25 percent more generating capacity than needed. The pre-ANC government actually sold electricity to neighboring countries.

Now even major cities like Johannesburg, Capetown and Pretoria are all in a state of severe decay, with roads littered with potholes, broken traffic lights, power outages and water cut-offs. Public hospitals don’t work, the police are totally corrupt and crime is rampant.

The ANC-run provincial governments also don't work any better. One provincial government can't even provide textbooks to its schools. A study by the Centre for Development and Enterprise revealed that South Africa had the worst public school system in the entire developing world.

South Africa notably under-performed many poorer countries, suggesting that lack of resources was not the critical variable.

The typical ANC excuse is to blame ‘the legacy of apartheid’ but this makes no sense: all these services worked far better under apartheid.

Many national government officials devote little time to their actual job. Instead the main activities of most ministers seem to be foreign travel and showing up at celebrations or rituals of one kind or another.

There is a continuous schedule of party events – conferences, rallies, 22 national celebrations, commemorations, funerals and anniversaries. Even extremely minor events such as the launch of a new brochure or government program are the occasion for lavish parties. Previously sedate occasions like the opening of Parliament are turned into major jamborees.

Officials spend unconscionable amounts on luxury cars, first-class travel, bodyguards, private airplanes – and often on large newspaper advertisements boasting of their activities and featuring large portraits of themselves. Inevitably, all this has been aped by provincial ministers and even by municipal officials. Far out in the wilds one sees huge posters on the roadside featuring the face of some minor provincial official, accompanied by the announcement of a local maintenance or improvement program.

We understand that bureaucrats in most countries are inept to some degree, but in this case the elevation of communist cronies of the ANC to the civil service has made the government far more incompetent and corrupt than in other countries. The civil service has been stripped not only of competent personnel but also of its institutional memory.

One result has been colossal expenditure on outside consultants who perform many of the tasks that civil servants should do but can't.

Lacking competent people, the government has tried to force the private sector to do its work for it.

The communist government has written a great deal of legislation – including affirmative action and "black economic empowerment" programs – to require all manner of performance from the private sector. Government officials then have the far easier job of simply punishing companies that fail to comply.

For example, mining legislation consists mainly of telling mining companies what to do--in great detail and with threats of dire punishment – and granting the minister unlimited "discretionary power." [Does that sound familiar, Americans?] Which of course makes a company's fate entirely dependent on the government minister's good will. It is a prescription for corruption.

The main focus of the president and his appointees is on activities of the ANC, its many celebrations, its rules and discipline, its national and regional conferences and factions.

They've lived their entire lives in the ANC. It's the source of their positions and power. Thus it's not surprising that officials at all levels invariably give precedence to party meetings and occasions over state duties.

There's a lot more at the link. In reading her description of the disaster that has afflicted her country it occurs to me that this is the inevitable result when people who have no knowledge of basically anything other than thuggery and extortion take over a government. These are the people who believe that electricity and running water "just happen" automatically. If something isn't working to the satisfaction of the Party, it can be fixed simply by ordering that to happen.

Trying to tell these people about preventive maintenance, or the importance of a fair and reliable legal system, or...well, anything other than "here's this month's...gift, Minister"...is utterly useless. It simply annoys them.

They think all they need to know about governing is that they won. So now they get to give orders and the entire machinery of government must do their bidding.

"I won." Unstated corollary: So now you must do as I command. Sound familiar?

What absurd, obscene arrogance! And it will have exactly the result an intelligent person imagines.

Yes, you read that right. These moronic muzz-thugs claim the sight of the birds' genitals as they fly overhead is offensive to Islam, and have told pigeon breeders they have one week to get rid of their birds or face public flogging.

This isn't the first time ISIS has targeted people who keep pigeons--a popular hobby in the Middle East. Earlier this year it was claimed that ISIS thugs executed 3 boys after the thugs claimed the hobby reduced the amount of time they could have devoted to prayer.

The new ban on pigeon keeping was contained in an actual written document released by the group's leaders.

All those who keep pigeons above the roofs of their houses must stop doing this entirely within a week of the date of the issuing of this statement. Whoever violates it will be subject to consequences of reprimand including a financial fine, imprisonment and flogging.

When rumours of an ISIS ban on pigeons began circulating earlier this year it was widely thought that the ban was because ISIS thought the birds could be used to either smuggle anti-ISIS messages or cigarettes, but the new ban clearly states that it's intended 'to put a stop to the greater criminal act of harming one's Muslim and Muslim women neighbours, revealing the [bird's] genitals and wasting time.'

In January the terror group rounded up 15 boys in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, close to Baghdad. who were charged with 'wasting time' rearing the birds. It executed three of them. Families of the others were forced to pay as much as £1,200 each to secure their release after the group were snatched from their homes

According to witnesses ISIS thugs searched every house for pigeons, stuffing any birds that they found into bags and taking them away. Abu Abdullah, a farmer, told NBC News he had managed to get the money together by borrowing from family. Others had handed over jewelry to secure their sons' release. Mr Abdullah said his son had been severely beaten and warned not to keep pigeons again.

Mr Abdullah, 52, said he was standing beside his son when ISIS militants stormed the family home and kidnapped his son. He said: 'I asked them why and they said: 'He is not following the real Islam, he must be punished for being a pigeon breeder. This habit is taking him away from worshiping Allah.'

I begged them to know where are they taking him, what are they going to do to him. They said he is going to be taken to be judged according to the Islamic Sharia. They pushed me, and when my son tried to stop them from pushing me they beat him. Then they put him inside the car and left.

Stupid, dhimmi American politicians note well the phrases in red above: You may think none of this has anything to do with Islam. But the thugs--now numbering close to 100,000--sure as shit believe they're the true messengers of Islam. So the fact that you dumb-ass American politicians and liberals--who are NOT Muslim--think you know how to tell who is and who isn't muzz doesn't impress me a bit.

You're idiots. Morons. You remind me of highschool kids who--on the basis of what they've been taught by their leftist teachers in 3 or 4 years--are absolutely certain that

a) the U.S. is the source of all problems in the world;
b) all the great things in this country just magically appeared somehow, with no effort required;
c) that Government is the biggest and best creator of jobs; and on and on.

I can't blame the highschoolers--they only know what they've been taught. But you pols should know better. When the shit hits the fan here in the U.S.--terror attacks on all manner of civilian targets--you will be to blame for throwing our borders wide open, and for lying to Americans about Islam.

May your names be cursed for generations.
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To whoever reads this: Bet you didn't hear about it before now. Why didn't it make the U.S. news? After all, it's got all the "hooks" needed: nutty religious people targeting people for keeping harmless birds, and threatening said keepers with flogging--in some cases killing them--if they disobey.

So why didn't it make any national news here? (I found the story in the UK's Daily Mail.)

Because all the networks and major papers are scared to fucking death of criticizing Islam.

Oh wait, I forgot: ISIS has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. You will disregard the fact that the first two letters stand for "Islamic State." And it's simply a coincidence that U.S.-based Muzz groups like CAIR either don't criticize ISIS or are very very muted when doing so, saying neutral things like "Oh, well, the rights of ALL people should be respected." Great.

For at least the last century in the U.S. it's been a crime to threaten to injure or kill someone. And the record is quite clear that Anthony Elonis posted statements on his Facebook page about killing his estranged wife, harming law enforcement officials and
shooting up a school. For example, in a post about is estranged wife he wrote "There's...a thousand ways to kill you.
I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and
dying from all the little cuts."

But don't worry, citizen. It's all good. Just accept that it's now okay for people to specifically threaten to kill not just *broad groups* but specific people, using social media--provided, of course, that you claim the threats are merely "rap lyrics," that you didn't actually intend them as a threat, and that enforcing those mean ol' "assault" laws takes away your right of free speech.

Yes, Elonis
claimed he didn't violate any law if he didn't
actually intend his comments to be threatening, and that
his posts were protected by the First Amendment. Oh, and that his posts were a form of therapy that allowed him to cope with the breakup of his marriage."

Elonis' wife testified that the comments made her fear for her life, and she asked for and got a judge to issue a protective order. On learning about the protective order Elonis posted on Facebook: "Is it thick enough to stop a bullet?"

Yeah, that sounds like most of the rap lyrics we hear. No intent to threaten there, no sir.

Here's another from this charmer:

If only I knew then what I know now, I would have smothered your ass, dumped you in the back seat, dropped you off in Toad Creek and made it look like a rape and murder.

That's got a better rhythm to it, don't you think? But clearly no intent to threaten. Not a bit. I mean, why in the world would a local judge issue this woman a protection order for such an innocuous form of "therapy?"

Okay, enough satire: The wackos on the supreme court keep issuing decisions that slowly erase the lines that allow civilized, law-abiding, non-threatening people to live free of threats by angry or thuggish maniacs. So be it. So I'll take them at their word:

(Ahem.)
"You assholes on the court are
dismantling our civilization with each month.
You deserve to be tortured and killed
for your perversity and treachery.
Hopefully...
some poor bastard who's been beaten
or lost a daughter or wife because of
your perverse "rulings" will take matters
into his own hands and kill you all."

Wow! That felt SO therapeutic! Of course y'all can see I'm new to this "rap lyrics" thang cuz I didn't manage to work in "bitches" or "ho's" but hey, ev'rybody gotta start somewhere. Artistic expression rocks!

About Me

Ex-AF pilot. While airliners are very safe, flying a single-pilot jet can be extremely demanding, especially in bad weather. It's a *huge* tribute to engineers that today's commercial jetliners are so amazingly safe!